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How Republican Health Care Proposals Weaken Current Protections for People with Pre-Existing Conditions

House and Senate Republicans claim their health care bills do not change protections for people with pre-existing conditions. But both the House bill and all iterations of the Senate bill clearly contain provisions that would dramatically reduce protections. While Republican bills continue to provide some financial assistance to consumers, that assistance is significantly lower than it was under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Lower financial assistance, coupled with fewer consumer protections, would leave individuals facing an insurance market much like they did before the ACA: one with higher costs and fewer protections when people need them most.

The below chart indicates which actions insurers in the individual market are allowed to deploy—in some cases, with state approval—when designing and pricing their plans under the different provisions of the American Health Care Act (House bill) and the Better Health Care Reconciliation Act (Senate bill).

Jeanne Lambrew, PhD, is a senior fellow at The Century Foundation and an adjunct professor at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Her writing, research, and teaching focus on policies to improve health care access, affordability, and quality.

Ellen Montz was a senior fellow at The Century Foundation with expertise in U.S. health care policy, with a specific research focus on health insurance coverage and market regulation. She is currently a PhD candidate in health policy, with a concentration in economics, at Harvard University.